On the sweetness of Mormon life.

Our Stake President is moving to Europe for a new job. He came to our ward last Sunday to say goodbye.

This is what he told us in his talk. There was a woman who taught school and did it well, but had let religious things go. As she got older, she missed it more. About the time she started going back to church, she came down with fatal cancer. Time was short, but she decided she wanted to get her endowments before she died. There were some things she needed to get in order first. She progressed quickly, but the cancer progressed more quickly still.

One Sunday while visiting our ward the Stake President got a text from her bishop. I just interviewed her, the text said, you need to come right now, she’s dying.

So he got up and walked out of our meeting (it was nice to know why now) and went to her house. With her family and neighbors out in the living room, he went in to her bedroom to interview her for her temple recommend. At this point in the story, the Stake President found it hard to go on telling it. The interview was very sacred, he said. There was a strong spirit there. He found her worthy and gave her a recommend, which she clutched in her hand, lying in her bed.

He went back to the family. Do any of you have the priesthood? he asked. I do, said one of her brothers, but I haven’t been to church for awhile. The Stake President told him, in effect, you have a minute to get right with God, your sister needs you now. After the minute, they  gave her a blessing. The blessing said that she soon would be welcomed where the righteous are welcomed, past the gates of death, and many other things too holy to recount. She died a few hours later.

That was his story. He urged us all to get our temple recommends. He said that there is a community that neither death nor distance can obliterate.